Alibaba earnings show China's consumers still shopping amid trade war

Online retailer's sales jump 40% in latest quarter

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business

Posted: 2:04 AM, August 16, 2019Updated: 2:04 AM, August 16, 2019

ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

HANGZHOU, China - The Chinese consumer is still spending, despite concerns about a trade war-induced economic slowdown. Online retail giant Alibaba reported a more than 40% jump in sales in its latest quarter, results that were better than analysts expected.

The good news from Alibaba comes on the same day that American retail giant Walmart, which owns a stake in Alibaba rival JD.com, also reported impressive results. JD posted solid sales growth earlier this week as well.

Related stories

Alibaba reported a healthy jump in mobile active users in the quarter and solid gains in sales at both its Tmall and Taobao platforms.

"We are pleased to see sustained user engagement and consumer spending," said Alibaba chief financial officer Maggie Wu in a statement.

What's more, sales in Alibaba's cloud computing unit, which competes with Amazon and Microsoft, soared 66% from a year ago.

Alibaba's cloud division helps companies around the world host their own sites and CEO Daniel Zhang promised more growth ahead.

"With strong cash flow from our core commerce business, we will continue to invest in technology and bring digital transformation to millions of businesses globally," he said in the statement.

Alibaba shares rose about 3% in early trading following the earnings announcement. JD soared earlier this week after it reported results. Both stocks fell Wednesday though, along with the broader market, as fears of a looming US recession grew.